Man believed married to four women in different states dubbed 'cupid of chaos'

Michael Middleton, 43, is being held without bail in an Ohio jail on a domestic violence charge in Maine.

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Feb. 12, 2019, 4:15 PM GMT

By David K. Li

A man dubbed the "cupid of chaos" was arrested in Ohio and is accused of being married to at least four women in as many states, authorities said Tuesday.

Michael Middleton, 43, is being held without bail in a Columbus jail, awaiting a hearing Friday on extradition to Maine, Franklin County Sheriff's records show.

Michael MiddletonFranklin County Sheriff's Office

He is being held on outstanding warrants in Maine for a charges that include domestic violence, assault and driving under the influence, Franklin County Sheriff's spokesman Marc Gofstein said.

But his bigger legal issue may be his being married to different women in New Hampshire, Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky, according to NBC affiliate WCMH-TV in Columbus.

"I know there are multiple wives, I know of at least four and possibly a fifth," Gofstein told NBC News on Tuesday.

Middleton was charged in January with one count of bigamy in Strafford County, New Hampshire, officials said. He did not appear at his arraignment there Thursday.

He was arrested in Columbus on Friday on the Maine warrant after a tipster called sheriff's dispatchers, telling them about the man's alleged multiple marriages and where he was staying in town, according to Gofstein.

Specifically, the tipster cited a Newsweek story about Middleton's alleged trail of broken hearts and emptied bank accounts, Gofstein said.

"This 'cupid of chaos' is now awaiting extradition in our jail," the Franklin County Sheriff's Department tweeted.

One of his alleged wives, Ashley Climer, 25, said she and Middleton were married in April 2016 in Williamsburg, Kentucky, after they met on Facebook a month earlier, according to her interview with WCMH.

"It disgusts me, it hurts me," she said. "I don't know how he could say he loved me and just lied to my face."